Former Sports Minister of India Vijay Goel has forwarded Kidambi Srikanth’s nomination for the Padma Shri award in light of his sensational achievements in 2017 on the international badminton circuit. Srikanth recently added back-to-back titles at the Denmark Open and French Open and a win in the China Open could see him become the new World No.1 in the badminton rankings.

Goel is now the Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the country and wants Srikanth to win the prestigious award despite the deadline having passed for the nominations to be filed. Writing a letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Goel wrote according to Times of India, “He is an idol for the youth of the country and millions of people have aspirations to see his achievements being recognised. Many people have approached me in the capacity of ex-Sports Minister to recommend his name for this year’s Padma Shri award. Accordingly, in the spirit of reflecting the aspiration of people of India, I recommend name of Shri Srikanth Kidambi for the Padma Shri award.”

He further wrote, “In this scenario, it is imperative to motivate the young sportsman by acknowledging his contribution to this sport in India.”

Srikanth this year has become the only Indian in history to win four Super Series titles. He has won the French Open, Denmark Open, Indonesian Open and Australian Open. He also reached the final of the Singapore Open. Even though he is on the verge of becoming World No.1, Srikanth has claimed that he is not fussed about the rankings, saying, “To be frank I don’t really think too much about the rankings. I really did well in the last eight to ten months. I want to just keep playing tournaments and enjoy playing the sport.”